BRUTUS THE TROJAN
Courtesy of The Kingdom Voice
IN May 1959 we visited the lovely little town of Totnes, in Devon, England, upon the River Dart. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. We stood upon the bank, and upon the bridge of the River Dart, whose placid waters once carried a mighty King of Zarah-Judah stock, namely Brutus the Trojan, to the island home for which he had been seeking.
The Brutus Stone at Totnes; the London Stone in Cannon Street, London; the Brass Plate in the vestry of St. Peter’s Church upon Comhill, London, all testify to the coming of Brutus to these Isles of the West, and to the truth of the Divine Charter, “Thine House and Thy Kingdom shall he established for ever” – (2 Samuel 7)
It is evident that Brutus came here under Divine leading and compulsion. He was led to the ”Appointed Place for MyPeople Israel”.
We met Dr Tonge the proprietor of the Brutus House and Studio, who kindly gave us permission to publish a delightful little leaflet, previously prepared and published by himself, but now out of print.
“About the year 1150 B.C. there appeared off the shores of England (in those far off days called Albion) a vast fleet of ships, Trojan vessels of magnificent design, bearing with them all manner of merchandise and precious jewels from the ancient worlds of Greece and Troy.With them came warriors and craftsmen, their families and servants, seeking a new land. Leading this great expedition was one Brutus, a Trojan General of renown who had won for the Trojans freedom from their Greek oppressors.”
They sailed along the coast until they came to the sheltered estuary of a river, and there the Trojan fleet anchored. Alone Brutus took his vessel up this river until where the shallows made it impossible to progress further, he found himself in the heart of a glorious valley.And here, for the first time the Trojan General set foot in Albion.
Straightaway, Brutus sent his legions to explore the countryside, and wherever the Trojans penetrated they found a land of great fertility.Upon hearing the news, Brutus decided that this should be their country, and he renamed Albion and its surrounding islands, Britain.
Before finally reaching Britain, the Trojans fought many battles under the leadership of Brutus, each battle a victory bringing more prosperity to his followers. Their greatest battles were fought and won in Britain itself, for the land was inhabited by giants led by the legendary Gogmagog. Brutus with the chief of his Captains, one Corineus, fought Gogmagog in mortal combat and finally slew him, casting him over the cliffs of Plymouth Hoe.
This same Gogmagog is known to thousands the world over by the famous statues which guard the Guildhall in London. There they have made him into two giants, perhaps because he was too mighty to be represented by one figure alone.
Today there is a lovely market town nestling in that valley where Brutus first set foot, the town of Totnes, guarded by its ancient castle. The river up which Brutus sailed is now known as the River Dart, a famous haunt of holiday-makers, at the mouth of which lies the picturesque town of Dartmouth, and facing it across the river, the village of Kingswear, both steeped in the history of many hundreds of years. The very stone upon which Brutus first set foot can still be seen in Totnes, the Brutus Stone, and legend says that all who step on it and wish will have their wish fulfilled, Thousands pause to wish upon it every year, as countless others have done through the centuries.
It is a remarkable fact, but in perfect accord with the marvels of the Divine supervision of His predetermined purpose, that in the very same period of time, during which Almighty God was promising to appoint A PLACE wherein King David’s descendants would be free from invasion from their latter-day enemies, at this very time a great descendant of Zarah-Judah was already here in Britain preparing such an Appointed Place!
For King Brutus of Troy, having sailed from Greece, in due time landed upon the southern shores of Britain’s island-home. Later marching north, he founded the ancient city of London in 1103 B.C. under the name of Tri-Novantum, or New Troy. There can also he little doubt that it must have been his own ancestor, Darda, who gave his Biblical name to the Dardanelles.
Professor L.A. Waddell in his classic work The Phoenician Origin of the Britons, Scots and Anglo Saxons, gives a genealogy of British Kings from King Caradoc, right back to King Brutus.
In 1959 we paid a visit to the Exeter County Library to confirm the coming of the Trojans to ancient Britain. We found that The 1955 Transactions of the Devon Association was a paper read in Crediton that year (1955), and since published in book form. Some thirteen pages under the title, The Trojans in Britain by Theo Brown, supports the story of these mighty warriors and their great leader Brutus, landing in Britain. The following is included:
There is a legend that when BRUTUS stepped off his ship at Totnes, he stood on a Stone. from which he declaimed, in astonishing good English for a Trojan:
“Here I am, and here I rest – And this Town shall be called Totnes.”
On picture post-cards of South Devon, showing Totnes, the above verse can also be seen, with the added words – Brutus of Troy, Legendary Founder of The British Nation. It is an actual fact that Britain’s Royal House has an ancient and illustrious ancestry of noble Kings. King Brutus of Troy, King Bran the Blessed, King Carodoc the Brave, who defied Caesar’s legions. The story is told that when Brutus, beset by his enemies in Old Troy, left Greece, travelling by sea he arrived at the Island of Legatta, (now called Malta), and inquired the fate of his nation and family, in the Temple of Diana.
The question and answer, said to have been written in Archaic Greek on the Temple of Diana, has been versified by Alexander Pope:
Goddess of the Woods! Tremendous in the chase
To mountain boars and all the savage race.
Wide o’er the ethereal walks extend the sway.
And o’er the infernal regions void of day,
Look upon us on earth! Unfold our fate,
And say what region is our destined seat,
When shall we next thy lasting temples raise,
And choirs of virgins celebrate thy praise?
Came the prophetic answer:
BRUTUS! There lies beyond the Gallic bounds,
An Island, which the Western Sea surrounds,
By Ancient Giants once held, now few remain,
To bar thy entrance, or obstruct thy reign,
To reach that happy shore, thy sails employ,
There fate decrees to build a second Troy.
And found an empire in thy royal line,
Which time shall ne’er destroy, nor bounds confine!
(From Waddell’s Book pp. 152-153)
